Aug. 1, 1§99.] 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST, 
133 
ia progress, it should appear advisable to make such 
alterations or to increase the number of tea inspectors, 
the necessary steps will be taken at once. 
On the folio wine evening, Mr. Carew returned to 
the attack. He asked the jFinanoial Secretary to the 
Treasury whether he was aware that large importa- 
tions of tea rejected by the Hamburg and New York 
Customs had recently been passed by the English Cus- 
toms and sold in London, though containing up to 
20 per cent, of clay and sand, ana was unfit for hnmaa 
consumption ; and whether, in view of the fact that 
the price of common teas had advanced 60 per cent., 
of which the poor were the largest consumers, the G-o- 
vernment would insist on a more rigid inspection of 
all future importations to prevent a repetition of the 
fraud. 
Mr. Haubury replied that the "Board of Customs 
have no means of testing the accuracy of the state- 
ment in the first paragraph. A full inquiry is being 
made and if it should appear advisable to alter the ex- 
isting regulations, or to increase the number of l^a 
inspectors, the nocesstxry steps will be taken at once. 
Meantime, a circular has been issued to the tea 
inspectors, directing them to administer the existing 
regulations with special care." 
We are glad that our revelations have had such 
immediate and far-teaching results, and as inquiry 
can only reveal the truth of every word of our 
indictment, we shall look to it that the Government 
is held to its pledge of reform. — Public Opinion, 
June 23. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
j.^0 Change. — The latest report of the Commissioner 
of Customs for Shanghai does not confirm the reports 
circulated freely some time back that the Chinese 
were about to reform their methods of tea manu- 
facture. The hopes expressed that the mandarins 
were at !a=t awakening to the advantage of prepar- 
ing tea by machiuery, we are told, have been dis- 
appointed. There has been no improvement, says 
the report for 1893, in the treatment of tea, "nor 
is there likely to be as long as Rassia takes nearly 
all the crop of black as it is." 
The Sobrows op the Tea Eetailet:. — The "Grocer " 
reproves those who foster the demand for cheap 
tea. It says "Consumers of tea are willing to pay 
a fair price for a good article, and it may be hoped 
those retailers who are fostering the demand for 
' the shilling canister,' and who are by so doing 
throwing away another chance of making a legitimate 
living profit, will curb their zeal and philanthropy. 
Generally speaking, profit on sugar is almost an un- 
known quantity ; at any rate, retailers do not get 
a fair return for the labour and capital involved 
in its distribution. It will be a great misfortune if 
the tea trade is allowed to drift in a similar direc- 
tion, and an effort to check the diminution in the 
margin of profit ought to be made before it is too 
late. Would the retail distributor's determination to 
secure a fair return on all his tea sales limit the 
demand? We think not." Touching lightly upon 
the sorrows of the retailer, the " Grocer" adds : 
" The tea trade has been the subject of a great 
deal of attention during the last few weeks. In 
several of the general newspapers statements have 
recently appeared to the effect that a quantity of 
tea containing an appreciable percentage of ' dirt ' 
has found its way to Mincing Lane, and sensation- 
mongers have been urging consumers ' to be on their 
guard against retailers who desire to charge them for 
tea and to foist upon them an inferior article contain- 
ing substances not grown upon the tea plant.' It is a 
pity that such Vv'i-iters do not make inquiries of the 
Commissioners of Customs before perpetrating such 
libels on a trade which is generally conducted on as 
pure a basis as any that could be mentioned. Follow- 
ing upon this damaging statement came the assertion 
iu the prosecution of Lipton, Limited, last week that 
it is ' the universal custom of the trade to weigh tea 
with the paper in which it is wrapped.' We publish 
this week another batch of protests against the asser- 
tion, but it is to be feared that among the readers of 
seme of the daily newspapers which did not give 
sufficient prominence to the contradictions of the 
statement quoted above, distruct of retail tea-dealeia 
will be created." 
Tea and Coffee in America. — They are trying tea as 
a rival to beer in New York. Tea saloons have been 
opened where it is sold for a penny a pint, and the 
buyer may have it hot or cold. Colonel Hadley, the 
inaugurator of the movement, is going to try and 
convince the poorer class of consumers that : "Tea 
builds up ; alcohol burns up. Tea quenches thirst ; 
beer starts a thirst." The plan also includes a scheme 
to induce the beer-drinker to substitute tea and place 
the daily saving in a bank. To encourage this the 
society start the account with a gift of is, with the 
understanding tliat the money formerly spent for been 
less that spent for tea, shall be deposited daily. The 
would mean a saving, where a pint of tea is taken 
instead of a pint of beer, of £17 12, to v/hioh the 
society will add the balance to bring the year's saving 
up to £20. Coffee finds a more ready sale than tea 
in some quarters, because the former can be purchased 
at 4Jd to 6d per pound, with a coupon for a gift in 
each package. This makes one gallon of coffee cost 
2Jd, while one gallon of tea of a poor sort costs 4d. 
A New Use foe Tea.— A correspondent who writes 
to a contemporary on the subject of fortune-telling 
"in the name of common-sense of society, and of 
religion," states that fees are now being extorted for 
the revelation of future events by the medium of tea 
leaves. He tells us that a professional lady attends at 
private houses, bringing her own tea pot, and dares 
" to predict the future by the position of the tea- 
leaves when poured with due solemnity into a cup." 
These fortune-tellers have no preference for Indian 
and Ceylon tea unfortunately, and can perform their 
cabalistic mysteries with either high or low grade 
teas. 
Rubber in Togoland. — In Togoland, (a German 
colony in West Africa between the British gold coast 
possessions and Dahomey) regulations have been 
issued to prevent the wanton destruction of India 
rubber trees, and the dealers receive licenses from 
the Government. Only natives are allowed to collect 
this product, strangers being forbidden to ply the 
trade without a special license, which costs ^50 a year, 
— H. and C. Mail, June 30. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
DuRiAN Plants. — Three plants were raised 
from seed received from Peradeniya Garden. They 
are now about eight inches high and are making 
a promising growth and will be planted out on 
tlie first favourable opportunity. These may suc- 
ceed where the imported plants have hitherto 
failed. — Madras Agri-HortimUural Societi/s Pro- 
ceedings. 
Another Market for our Teas.— A corres- 
pondent writes : — We note that a large exodus of 
Moormen from Holy Utah is taking nlace, the 
much married saints leaving for Manitoba and 
north-westCanada generally. Here we have another 
market for our teas, if travellers were sent to tap 
it via Vancouver. With half-a-dozen dames of 
one " harem" sitting in solemn conclave to pick to 
pieces the characters of their dearest friends, the 
spouses of a neighbouring elder, the consumption 
of the cup that cheers, which is inseparable from 
the proverbial scandal on such occasions, ought 
to be considerable. — The Planter, 
